


Think of me softly

by piltovers_finest



Category: League of Legends
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, Phantom of the Opera AU, Romantic Comedy, as in they're actors rehearsing the play
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-14 09:26:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16910346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/piltovers_finest/pseuds/piltovers_finest
Summary: Jayce has been having a pretty good time playing every main role until Viktor steals the spotlight.





	Think of me softly

**Author's Note:**

> Rating chosen because of all the swearing.
> 
> Being familiar with the musical isn't necessary to read this, it mostly helps with getting some references.

Madness, folly, and insanity. An outrageous act of disrespect towards Jayce, the best actor that company is going to have the pleasure of encountering in its, most likely, short life.

Caitlyn watches as he speaks, no, declaims. She stands in front of him, in the dressing room, with her arms crossed and her lips pressed into a thin line.

“Are you done?” she grits out, and Jayce would have said that no, he is not, but her eyebrows are pinched together and that is never a good sign so he nods instead. “I have not given you Erik because Viktor is good at being a gloomy bastard and his pitch fits better. Now you can either keep on being a brat about it and bugger off, don’t bother coming back, or accept it.”

Jayce breathes in deep. He tries to stay reasonable and level-headed. Like an adult would. But it’s hard, because he’s both a senior and a good actor. And companies aren’t supposed to give the leading role to new additions. It doesn’t work like that. It’s absurd and offensive towards the rest. Then again, if he says that Caitlyn will probably drop a latte on him and then kick him out.

“So what am I supposed to do, then? Play a supporting role?”

Caitlyn quirks an eyebrow. “You are going to play Christine. E6 Christine? Highest note in the whole production Christine? How is that a supporting role.”

And that is another matter that they should be discussing. He isn’t sure that he’ll be able to reach that note in his lifetime. But alas, he won’t be the one mentioning the issue. Not now, not ever. He gets it, now. This is a challenge. Caitlyn gave him the role because she trusts him and his prowess, bringing the matter up will only disappoint her and show her that he’s weak. And he isn't weak. He's the best actor they have.

Jayce forces a smile. It's a good one, Caitlyn will buy it. He's positive. “Fine. I’ll do it.”

The door opens with a bang and Caitlyn, just a second ago sighing in relief, groans. Viktor strides in and Jayce stares at the scene as it develops as he’d look at someone putting an egg in a microwave. In quiet horror, fully aware of the disaster that’s to come the second Viktor faces Caitlyn and opens his mouth.

“I won’t play Erik,” he says, and Jayce scoffs. Caitlyn glares his way before turning to face Viktor, not even attempting a smile. Jayce has only seen Viktor once before, when he got introduced to the rest of the cast, and he looks even worse than then, which is a mighty feat. His hair is an absolute mess and he seems unaware of what color coordination is. What color is, full stop. Viktor hasn’t even glanced his way, though, so Jayce says nothing. “I’ve hated him since I’ve been old enough to know what hate is. Can’t he play him? I’d do any supporting role, I don’t care.”

“Hang on,” Caitlyn replies, and she makes a show out of getting her phone out of her pocket, dialing, and bringing it up to her ear. “Vi? Yes, it’s me. No, I’m okay. Could you please check some files for me? Nothing happened, I just want to check if Viktor and Jayce are really of age.”

Jayce can hear Vi laughing through the phone before Caitlyn hangs up and seizes them with a withering look. When she speaks, she does so pointing at them and carefully enunciating every syllable.

“I’m saying this once and only once. You will play your parts, you will not complain about them again, and you will be grateful that I even  thought of you when casting. Are we clear?”

“Crystal,” Jayce chirps in, as obnoxiously as he feels he can get away with, and Viktor huffs.

“Fine,” he says, between his teeth, and Caitlyn drags her hands down her face with a drawn-out sigh, turns sharply, and leaves slamming the door shut behind her. "Jayce, right?"

"The one and only," Jayce answers, grinning, and Viktor's expression goes from neutral to mild annoyance. Why, Jayce can't know. It's kind of offensive, kind of entertaining. "Seems like we're going to have to work together. Hope you aren't too sloppy. Not everyone can be on my level, I get that, but you have to earn your place on a stage with me."

Viktor clicks his tongue. "Right. I'm going to leave now. See you around, Carlotta."

He doesn't add anything or address Jayce further before leaving the room. Jayce doesn't care or think much of it, not until later when he's home about to fall asleep and realizes the exact implications of what Viktor had said.

-x-

Three years before joining the company, Viktor saw Jayce for the first time.

He was twenty-four then, trying to find a place in the acting world, frustrated and desperate and attempting to have at least one afternoon for himself to do something that he knew he'd enjoy. So he went to the theatre, not knowing what they'd perform, and was lucky enough to catch Frankenstein onstage.

Jayce was playing Victor, and he had never seen anyone face the role like that. There was something about him, an air of sorrow yet so much passion. He moved with so much purpose but knew when to be soft. It was fascinating, nuanced, and Viktor couldn't take his eyes off him.

And then he sang, and Viktor stared at him as he did feeling his heart beating against his chest. He had been moved before, he had admired actors before; yet never had Viktor felt so strongly as he had upon hearing Jayce's voice. It was overwhelming, how controlled and careful Jayce was when singing. The inflection, the pitch, just the right touch of emotion to elevate it instead of smothering it. He was, in a way, enamored.

It was one of the reasons why he even tried to join that company in the first place. And after three years of trying, he had time to wonder almost endlessly about how Jayce would be like. Judging by how he played Victor, he thought that he might be a complex and disciplined man. One who took his craft seriously and valued his peers. It was, as far as fantasies went, a pretty nice one to indulge in.

Viktor now knows that he shouldn't have expected Jayce to be anything but an irredeemable asshole.

He shouldn't have kept on hoping after meeting him when he got introduced to the cast and Jayce looked him up and down, scoffed and left without a word. Yet he did, and he tried to talk to him, and he got what he deserved which was a thorough letdown.

Jayce isn't aware of Viktor having met him before, after all. It's not as if Viktor has told him, or is about to now. The last thing Jayce needs is confirmation of how good an actor he is coming from the man that stole the leading role from him, to add insult to injury. Viktor can only imagine the gargantuan proportions his ego would reach if he were to tell him that his rendition of _Birth to my Creation_ left Viktor breathless and vaguely in love.

So the second Jayce smirks and says "the one and only" with the arrogance of someone who's never faced a serious letdown in their life, Viktor is certain that he was mistaken and that he must move on and forget his fantasies at once. Jayce's next claim only serves to strengthen his resolve and though the contrast from what he imagined to the reality of Jayce is harsh and ungainly, he guesses that it's for the best as he walks into the costume department to find Vi squinting at the lapel of a suit jacket.

"Hello?" he says, uncertain, and Vi turns his way and smiles.

"Hey, Viktorino. How's it going? Is everyone being nice?"

Viktor walks her way and she slaps his back. Hard.

"It's...I'm okay. You're all great, yes. Although..." he pauses, wondering if Jayce and her are close and whether or not he can talk to her about him. Then he decides that he doesn't specially care all that much, since he doesn't have anything particularly bad to say about him besides how irritating he is. It isn't her fault, or even Jayce's, that he didn't meet his expectations. She's looking at him as if she knows what he's going to say, anyway, which is a bit unnerving. "Has Jayce always been that much of a diva?"

Vi guffaws. "It took you way too long to complain about him. Most crack during the first week. You didn't talk much, did you?"

"No, not really. Mostly only today."

She snorts, again, and holds the suit jacket in front of him, hanger and all.

"Right. He's kind of an asshole but he's a funny asshole, you know? Just...try and give him a chance. Turn around."

He turns and hums as she holds the jacket against his shoulders, then taps his back for him to turn again.

"I can try, but I don't think it'll end up well. He's not like I thought he'd be," she hangs the jacket and, alarmingly, turns to him with a knowing smile on her face. "What."

She shrugs, still smiling. "Like you thought he'd be."

Right. Viktor dodges her gaze and Vi starts laughing.

"Chill, okay? It's not as if you're the first one who got fucked up over an idealized version of Jayce. Won't be the last either, probably," she pats his shoulder and he nods, mortified but trying to avoid showing just how much. "He's my best friend, though. Has been for years. The Jaycer ain't all that bad."

She slaps his back again and winks before leading him out of the room, and Viktor would like to know in which way a man who thinks that it is proper to tell another actor that he hopes he isn't too sloppy, as if he has any right to judge anybody else's performances, isn't that bad.

After all, once deciding to give up on even trying to get close to Jayce in any capacity but the strictly professional, the prospect of getting to know Jayce the "funny asshole" is dreadful, to say the least.

His phone rings and Viktor digs it up from his pocket as he walks out of the theatre, surprised to see that Jayce, of all people, has texted him.

_Jayce (company): hey were rhew fukc is the scdeipt_

_Jayce (company): wairt ur not vi_

_Jayce (company): were rhe fucki s th e script tho i need to starrt reading it liek yesterday_

Viktor blinks down at his phone. Then he looks up and blinks at the cars parked in front of the theatre, and looks back down at his phone to stare at the screen, puzzled. Mildly endeared, and annoyed at himself for being so, by how awful Jayce's texting etiquette and skills are, which is alarming. Maybe a bit foolish of him to expect his crush to die down just like that.

_Me: it should be in the meeting room_

_Me: that's WHERE I got mine from, at least_

Jayce doesn't answer until that night, when Viktor is in bed leafing through the script.

_Jayce (company): o fortunata non ancor abbandonata_

_Jayce (company): .I._

Viktor laughs despite himself, then blames it on exhaustion for his own peace of mind.

-x-

As far as Jayce is concerned, Viktor's only redeeming quality and the reason why he got the starring role instead of him is that he looks like he hasn't slept in weeks. That was, mostly, his first impression of him. A tired, unkempt, man. Barely even interesting. And Jayce had to rehearse anyway, so he left the second he saw that Viktor didn't look like much.

That might have been a mistake, he reckons, now that it's been a week since he got the script and he has to build his whole performance around both Viktor, playing Erik, and Ezreal, playing Raoul. Ezreal he knows and he can work with, no problem. Viktor? He's an enigma. Jayce hasn't seen him perform, not once. Not even during his auditions. That was Caitlyn's job, after all, not his. So he's completely in the dark and with no point of reference from which to begin putting together the puzzle of his Christine. Christian, as the script says, it's the same character either way.

He reads his lines for the first scene during the first act, over and over, holed up in one of the rooms they use to practice. He'll get to the annotations later, once he has a clue of how he's going to do this. For now, he's guessing that a sort of bland naïveté is as good a starting point as any. So he bats his lashes at no one, gazing at the middle distance in affected bashfulness.

"I don't know, sir," he says, in the most obnoxiously Victorian way he can come up with, and almost feigns a fainting fit if only to amuse himself.

"Oh, not you as well," comes a voice from the door, drawling and low, and Jayce stares at Viktor as he stands there, looking way too irritated not to be overacting and for all he can see following his lead. "Can you believe it? A full house...and we have to cancel!"

Viktor does affect a fainting fit against the doorframe, arm over the forehead and all, and Jayce refuses to smile out of principle. Viktor straightens and walks his way, script held loosely in his hand, and Jayce feels like he has to somehow justify himself. You see, this isn't really how I do things. I'm just trying to get a feel of the character. This is not me.

"I'm assuming that since you are such a great actor you don't need any help with establishing the character?" Viktor says, face inscrutable, and Jayce decides that he doesn't need to justify himself after all.

"Fuck off. How are you dealing with Erik?"

Viktor huffs, but as far as Jayce can see there's no farther emotional reaction to that. Until he frowns and kind of grimaces? Jayce thinks. And looks at Jayce in such a sour way he somehow feels inadequate.

"Insolent boy, this slave of fashion basking in your glory. Ignorant fool, this brave young suitor sharing in my triumph," he doesn't sing it as he's supposed to, he recites it. He does so looking at Jayce dead in the eye, enunciating every syllable, and every word sounds both like he's taunting Jayce and like he very much would rather be anywhere else but there.

It's an absolute mess of a register for that line. Tonally, a disaster. Especially if he's supposed to be talking to Christine. But, in a way, Jayce gets what Viktor's trying to convey.

"So bitter jackass is what you're going for," Viktor nods. Jayce is kind of pissed off. Getting his own interpretation of the character doesn't imply that he has to like it, and it's not like he has it all figured out but there's something about the situation that irks him. "You know that disliking Erik doesn't justify getting rid of the things that can make the audience empathize with him, right?"

"Why should I make the audience empathize with Erik, exactly?"

Jayce spares a second trying to reconcile himself with the idea of someone asking that question. Maybe Viktor is an entity from a world in which this play they're working on doesn't exist, and he doesn't know how it goes. Then again, he did say that he had hated Erik since, if he recalls correctly, he knew what hate was.

"Have you read the script?"

Viktor frowns and Jayce is bewildered. If Viktor gets mad at him over whether or not the audience is supposed to feel sad for Erik he's probably going to end up throwing a boombox at him.

"Yes, I have. My point still stands. Why should the audience be made to empathize with Erik when the only thing he does is let himself get dragged around by his emotions, harming others while doing so, and send pointless notes."

"That's what most of the characters do. Erik is given a background for a reason. It's not like we're supposed to agree with him, just think about why he does what he does," Jayce says, and Viktor doesn't answer. He stands in front of him, staring, grimacing. "If his emotions are more out of control that those of most characters', I disagree by the way, is because he's supposed to be intense and make the audience feel his sad, anguished, fury."

"I know," Viktor says, slowly, and Jayce would love to start rehearsing and stop talking about this only no, actually, he's invested in the conversation now. He's intrigued. "What I mean is that his actions still condemn him, and those actions are driven by emotion. And what he seems to be feeling most of all is bitterness. He's bitter at Christine for having a life, the gall. He's bitter at Raoul for existing. He's bitter at the theatre's new owners for not doing things how he wants them to which is absurd, to begin with. He's bitter at Carlotta for being the prima donna instead of Christine. He's bitter at himself, but not as much as he is at everybody else. And you expect my starting point to be anything but bitter jackass?"

"That's not what we were talking about," is what Jayce has to say to that, because Viktor is making a lot of sense and he wants to be contradictory.

"Fine. They can empathize if they want, I have no control over that, but I want to play Erik as he is written. Softening him for the sake of sympathy sounds like a copout. If I play a bitter jackass and they can still empathize, that would be awful and awfully telling but a success, in a way. "

Awfully telling, he says. Yet Jayce can see, now, how his ideas make sense. He might not agree, he doesn't think he ever will because, for one, his idea of Erik differs greatly, but he can see how it can be useful to Viktor as an actor. It's interesting.

"Right. So bitter jackass it is, then."

Viktor, to his credit, doesn't seem eager to gloat or show any sign at all that he's won an argument. He merely nods and flips some pages of his script until he finds what he's looking for, then looks up at Jayce and hums.

"How's your Christine coming along?" Jayce shrugs. "We could try doing some scenes, see how it goes."

They try. Viktor is, Jayce is surprised to see, a fairly decent actor. Not as good as him, not likely to happen anyway, but they work well together. By the time Ezreal arrives and they can start getting to Raoul's scenes in depth, he has a way better grasp on Christine than he had when he first tried.

"Viktor, I want to try that line I was doing when you came in again. Ezreal, can you see if it's gonna go well with your Raoul?" he says. Viktor hums and stands in front of him. For that scene, he has to get in the mindset of someone with dreams too big for them, that's at an impasse and suddenly given a chance to get closer to what they want. It takes him a bit, to reach that mindset. There's not much that he needs, or a dream he hasn't yet conquered.

But once he feels like he can do it, he looks right at Viktor and he stares back, waiting.

 Jayce dodges his eyes, then. He fidgets, looking at Viktor's chin as he loosely closes his fists and wets his lips.

"I don't know, sir," he says, and he tries to make it sound firm but trembling. A string of sound but one with purpose. It's harder than he anticipated and he kind of botches it, a little, but it's going to have to do. He looks back up at Viktor's eyes and he catches his gaze, almost unblinking.  

"That was good, I think. I can work with that," Ezreal says while walking his way, and Jayce notices with some trepidation that Viktor seems to be barely breathing. "Jayce? Hey, it was a good one. What's up."

"Him," Jayce points at Viktor and he seems to snap out of it, blinking rapidly and gasping before turning away. "You okay?"

"Yes," Viktor croaks, and Ezreal snorts by Jayce's side. "I'm fine. Got distracted is all."

"Well some of us are professionals so try to keep up," Ezreal jokes, but Jayce almost hits his smug face. Viktor just nods, waving a hand their way gesturing for them to continue as he steals Jayce's water bottle and takes a sip.

"I'll be back in a second," he leaves them with those words, and Jayce stares at the now closed door until Ezreal kicks him in the shin.

-x-

It's too early to have a phone.

It's not the most coherent thought he's had in his life, but it will have to do until Viktor's awaken properly and, hopefully, his phone stops beeping. He gropes for it, half asleep, around the bed and finds it inside the pillowcase. How it ended there, he dares not think about.

He blinks blearily at the screen. It has stopped beeping, thankfully, but he has gotten a string of messages from Jayce once again. Why can't he grasp the concept of proper texting hours is a mystery to Viktor, but it's the second time since they've met that he's done it when anybody else would've been either asleep or about to be.

Viktor refuses to read them until he's taken a shower and is dressed, sitting in his living room nursing a cup of coffee. The only real reason he can find to be that petty is that Jayce irks him in that way that things that he doesn't like but can't fully hate do. It would be nice if emotions could start making sense, Viktor would appreciate that, but it doesn't seem to be going to happen anytime soon. And anyway, if it had been an emergency he would've called. He cannot possibly be stupid enough to just text him and leave it at that in that case.

He isn't, which is a small relief.

_Jayce (company): vi_

_Jayce (company): havde u evaer trde to hit e6 it sucs_

_Jayce (company): is it enve possibl?????_

_Jayce (company): y iou arent vi_

_Jayce (company): Again._

_Jayce (company): See? I'm writing like a stuffy old man so you don't have to correct me_

_Jayce (company): fuc it its annouin_

_Jayce (company): can u reac e6??????? bet u cant_

_Jayce (company): ??????????????????????????????????????????????????_

Viktor reads the texts twice, then leaves his coffee on his living room's tiny table to avoid spilling it everywhere when he starts laughing in disbelief.

_Me: I can't_

_Me: Is this going to happen often? I don't want to know any more of your secrets_

Pocketing his phone after checking the time, he leaves for the theatre without expecting an answer and, sure enough, he doesn't hear of Jayce until he arrives and finds him sitting crossed legged on the floor of one of the rooms, looking morosely  down at the script.

"Good morning," Viktor says, and Jayce looks up at him and waves. "When did you get here?"

Jayce frowns. "I don't know. A couple of hours before I texted you? Sorry if I woke you but you should've been awake by then, anyway."

If that is true, and ignoring the jab, Jayce has been there since six in the morning.

"What have you been doing?"

"Warming up. Lines. _Think of Me_ , which is sounding quite good actually," he says, standing up, and yawns. Viktor quirks an eyebrow. "Fuck. I'm going to go over that again. You can stay if you want, you could even end up learning something, who knows."

Viktor stays, mostly out of spite. He has been amazed by Jayce's acting, he now has a very complicated relationship with that fact, and he has played along with Jayce's overacting too. Maybe that's the day he gets to hear Jayce squawk.

It isn't.

Jayce starts hesitant, as he should. He avoids looking Viktor in the eye. And slowly, steadily, his voice grows stronger. And he glances Viktor's way. And Viktor can't look away. Up until then, he was certain that he could never feel what he felt during _Frankenstein_ again. It was a once in a lifetime occurrence. That sense of wonder, the beating of his heart against his ribcage, his own breathing stuttering. It was impossible to recreate. Yet he feels it again, and it's twice as overwhelming because then Jayce is standing right in front of him. There's nobody else in the room, there are no costumes, there's no set. The experience is raw and Viktor finds himself drowning in his own emotions until Jayce snaps his fingers in front of his eyes.

"I know I am good but you need to breath, I refuse to carry you all the way to the infirmary," he says, and Viktor bites the inside of his cheek as he abruptly comes down from his elation and crashes into the room with Jayce, notorious asshole. A funny one according to Vi, but an asshole nonetheless.

"You do carry your ego around every day," Jayce's laughter sounds as surprised as Viktor himself is to hear it, and he looks at Jayce in wonder as he shakes his head.

"That's why my back is so broad and dreamy, I reckon."

"I'm sure the spotlight's flare weighs heavily on you."

"It's almost unbearable," Jayce says, gravely, and Viktor has to fight off a smile. "You'll find me crushed under it one day and regret your harshness."

"Should I hire a troupe to sing _Prima Donna_ to you? That should soothe your weary soul. Give you some peace."

"I'd rather you did it yourself," Jayce steps closer and Viktor crosses his arms, defensive yet unwilling to give into the temptation of stepping back. "Caitlyn spoke so highly of you, maybe that way I'll get to listen to you myself before my ego shatters me."

Viktor has been doing a great job of keeping a stern, sour, expression throughout the exchange. He's proud of it. It's Jayce's roundabout, stupid, and overdramatic way of asking him to sing that breaks him and makes him snort and ruins everything.

"You could have just asked. It would have been easier. There's no point in trying to be subtle when you're this flamboyant to begin with."

Jayce shrugs. "You laughed, kind of? I think. It sounded a lot like a sneeze but I'll count that as a victory."

Why Jayce would want to make him laugh, that's another mystery added to his whole person. He refuses to make any sense. Viktor doesn't know if he was right when he thought about Jayce during those past three years as a hardworking, serious, actor with a heart of gold. But he isn't sure if he's right about him being an irredeemable asshole either. Maybe he's neither. He seems to be waiting, in any case, for Viktor to sing.

"Fine. Any requests? I'm feeling generous."

"Whatever you want is fine. Something from the play would be nice, to see how you're going to do it," Jayce steps back then, and Viktor finds that his breathing evens out without having him so close. He hates it. So he decides that he might as well go for something mean, it's a happy coincidence that Erik has a wide repertoire of those, and takes a deep breath before he starts.

-x-

If he has to be completely honest with himself, Jayce didn't expect it to work nor for Viktor to see right through his stupid taunt. Yet he did, and he's breathing in slowly with his eyes closed. Jayce doesn't think he's warmed up, so he doesn't expect anything spectacular or for Viktor to blow his mind.

In a way, he's right. He is also incredibly wrong.

Partly because Viktor chooses _The Mirror_ , which involves him, and Jayce sees it as a challenge. Not only because Viktor is looking right at him as he sings, it's his posture. How he starts circling him. And his voice might not be amazing, but Jayce has the dreadful thought that it's not amazing yet and that it will be when he's had the time to get ready. It's raspy, aggressive, more emotion than intonation as far as Jayce can discern in that moment. It makes Jayce want to sing back and fuck Christine's character completely by doing it in an equally cocky way.

Viktor has stopped walking and Jayce can feel his presence behind him, his breathing. There's silence, for a beat. Jayce turns, and accepts Viktor's challenge singing Christine's reply. Viktor smiles, and Jayce could swear that it's the first time he's seen him do it so openly, before answering. He's getting closer, brushing Jayce, stepping around him but just out of reach when Jayce tries to follow. Viktor's harshness makes it more vivid, and it doesn't matter so much that he isn't nailing every note. It makes Jayce feel how Christine would in that scene, in a way. Her desperate plea for forgiveness from an entity that she doesn't understand after a mishap that wasn't even hers. How she would have considered Erik to be. Frustrating, maddening, and incomprehensible. Yet alluring.

And suddenly it's over, and he's leaning into Viktor and Viktor's holding his shoulder and keeping him at an arm's distance, staring down at him. It surprises him that it developed so organically, considering that it's a scene that they've never done together. Viktor pats his shoulder once and lets go, and Jayce steps back as he mulls over the whole situation.

So maybe Viktor and him improvised a whole scene so naturally that no rehearsing was required to set the tone and make Jayce get into character. That happened. Without Viktor needing to even be in tune.

"Was it that bad?" Viktor asks, and Jayce looks up to find him frowning slightly. "I was out of tune, but it didn't seem to bother you much so I kept going."

And what is Jayce supposed to say then.

It was maybe the easiest time I've had acting with anyone in my life? That would be ludicrous. They don't know each other and Jayce kind of dislikes Viktor? Maybe? A little? He doesn't know. Viktor is dry and way too into poking fun at his ego.

He's also staring at Jayce.

"You didn't hit one note right," he says, lets his mouth run wild because he's an idiot who sucks, and Viktor grimaces. "But I guess Caitlyn was right, because it worked anyway."

Viktor smiles, again, and it reaches his eyes even though he also seems reluctant to be showing any mirth at all.

Jayce doesn't like the way his own breathing stutters one bit.

-x-

_viktorino: vi, what is Jayce's deal exactly?_

_Me: hwo am i suposed to knww?_

_viktorino: you know him_

_Me: am not him tho????_

_viktorino: I don't understand him_

_Me: I am Caitlyn. Vi is getting more popcorn. Hello._

_Me: She also says that I should be the one to handle this._

_Me: I don't know why._

_Me: Jayce is just Jayce._

_Me: am bac_

_Me: caitl did a shtity job_

_viktorino: you think_

_Me: shur up_

_Me: lstien_

_Me: ust go w the flow dude_

_Me: youll gt him evdntually_

-x-

Viktor certainly does not get him. It's been two weeks and Jayce is still an enigma that he cannot decipher. He's nice enough, yet he's still overbearing. He spends hours rehearsing by himself, trying to train himself into reaching e6, and then rehearses with the rest as if he isn't exhausted. As if they can't see the bags under his eyes or feel his frustration. Yet he keeps speaking as if he's a diva that has graced them with his presence while, at the same time, being frustratingly charming.

So Jayce is this man that is exactly how Viktor expected him to be yet the complete opposite of what he expected, both things somehow at the same time. And he has to deal with that, every single day of his life, since they work together and have many shared scenes. At least he gets to wear a cape sometimes, and can have the satisfaction of walking around with it in a dramatic fashion. Small mercies.

It's too late to be in the theatre right then. Maybe past midnight, but there was a scene that eluded him and he stayed until he felt that he had the fundamentals right. He was well and truly exhausted and only wanted to stop thinking about Jayce and leave.

And then he hears coughing, coming from a room with the door ajar a few steps from where he is, and Viktor peaks inside to find Jayce rubbing at his throat.

Fuck.

Viktor strides to the small kitchenette they all share with purpose and doesn't bother to second guess himself before he's heating water and dropping honey and lemon in it. This is, no matter how convoluted his feelings for Jayce might be, a serious enough matter for him to act without thinking. He stirs the mix as he walks back to the room and sure enough, Jayce is still inside.

He doesn't look up when Viktor enters. He's standing by the mirrored wall, looking down at his hands with a frown.

"Jayce," he says, and Jayce starts and looks at him wide eyed. "This'll help."

"Thank you," Jayce takes the cup from him and sighs. "If only I weren't so good, they wouldn't ask me to do ridiculous bullshit like reaching e6."

He laughs, but it's weak. Viktor raises a hand, puts a finger on Jayce's mouth to channel his frustration in a way that doesn't imply hitting him.

"Shut up."

Surprisingly enough, Jayce does. He smiles, nods, and drinks in silence. Viktor stays with him, if only to have something to do instead of fuming at home. He's angry at Jayce but it feels wrong to snap at him when he's obviously over-exerted himself, even if that's the main reason why Viktor wants to kick him in the teeth.

Yet, somehow, a piece of the puzzle that Jayce is falls into place and it brings a little bit of order into Viktor's chaotic idea of him. He feels closer to Jayce, which is good for work and for maybe friendship? Very bad for his juvenile attraction for him, which refuses to fade no matter how angry he gets at Jayce.

At some point, Viktor doesn't know how much time passes, Jayce leaves the cup on a speaker and gestures to the door with his head. Viktor nods, somehow reluctant to break the silence, and Jayce throws a tired smile his way.

They leave together without a single word spoken between them until Jayce gets to his car, giving Viktor's back a light pat before getting in.

"You aren't that bad," he says, more to himself than to Viktor, and then he closes the door and drives away.

-x-

There is something cathartic about staying in bed staring at the ceiling in quiet panic, Jayce thinks. It lets him ponder about how to approach the subject of him thinking that Viktor, after a couple of weeks of knowing him, isn't that bad. Perhaps even likable. Maybe. Uncertain on that.

Jayce should stop lying to himself.

He likes Viktor's dry witted humor and no-nonsense approach to things, and his rants about Erik being too emotional. It's crept on him silently, treacherously, this feeling that Viktor's someone who he likes to spend time with.

It's an awful revelation, considering that they have to work together.

Jayce grabs his phone.

_Me: vi soemhing awful happende_

_Viktor: before you continue, I am not Vi_

Never has he ever been so thankful for hesitating before hitting send before, since it was the only thing that stopped him from telling Viktor that he was a frustrating motherfucker that made Jayce question how the fuck someone could be so funny yet so stupidly coarse. Not in those many words, but almost.

_Viktor: do you need any help?_

_Viktor: has a spotlight actually crushed you?_

Jayce snorts. It sucks.

_Me: yes_

_Me: so i tried to text vi_

_Me: am gfonna dei anyway so better alugh it off_

_Viktor: is it because she's the only one who can decipher your texts?_

_Viktor: you two write in exactly the same horrifying way_

_Me: i wrtie fast sue me_

_Viktor: not in your dying bed_

Jayce is tempted to kick his feet like a child. He doesn't, deciding that it'd be best to get ready for work instead, but it's a close call.

After that, it's oddly anticlimactic for Jayce, when he gets to the theatre and enters the room they use to rehearse to find Ezreal and Viktor already doing a scene and think, absentmindedly, that Viktor looks good in that shirt. Being how things were going, it would have been fitting to have a dramatic revelation, he thinks.

He'd expected it to be bombastic, to blow his mind, to be loud and horrifying.

Instead of that, he just glances Viktor's way and finds him to be casually attractive.

In a way, he figures that the natural flow of it all is what makes it extraordinary.

"Hey Jayce, are you gonna join or just gape at us?" Ezreal asks, and Jayce sighs and reluctantly walks their way. "I mean, I get it. I'm very handsome."

"You keep telling yourself that," Jayse says, and Ezreal huffs but lets it slide. Viktor doesn't say anything, writing something down on his script as they talk. Somehow, he also expected a certain hyperawareness of him. So far, he's mildly alarmed he expected anything at all and that's about it. "Which scene were you at?"

"Erik's backstory," Viktor drawls, and Ezreal snorts. "I'm being his Giry until Camille arrives."

"You have the tessiture for that?"

"Not really, but it's not like I have to sing much."

"He's good enough," Ezreal pats Viktor's shoulder and Viktor hums. "Maybe a bit too mad about having to give the ghost a backstory at all. But since Giry's so stern listening to her speaking like she's mocking the ghost is funny. Challenging, also, since I'm trying not to break character and Raoul has to be like super into the whole story."

Viktor huffs. "Glad to be of service."

"Like...the accidents part? Do that again," Viktor sighs but doesn't argue. He takes a few steps the mirror's way and straightens his back, his face set in a distant gesture.

"I have said too much, monsieur," he starts, and already his voice sounds different. Detached. "And there have been too many accidents."

Ezreal gasps. Jayce has always liked how he tackles his roles, expressive and as faithful to the character as he can be. Wide eyed, preoccupied, Raoul is a good fit for him.

"Accidents?" he says, sounding properly scandalized, and Viktor seems to almost smile, yet not quite.

"Too many," Viktor says, and the delivery of the line drips so much with joyless irony that Jayce wonders where the fuck Viktor reaches to achieve that. Yet he doesn't keep the character going for long, and as soon as he's said it he relaxes his posture and walks back to where he is, with Ezreal.

"See? That line is supposed to be ironic but that? What the fuck. It was chilling and so out of character I want to hit him but I can't because it was so good," Ezreal says, pointing at Viktor, and Jayce doesn't know what to answer to that. It's true. Ezreal's right. Viktor would be a terrible Giry but there's no denying that he's good. Jayce looks his way and catches him shrugging.

"Sorry? It's how Giry feels to me. Wouldn't you be tired of someone if he kept throwing the catwalk on everybody they don't like? Or crawling around the trap room. I would. I'm guessing she is, too, just too scared to voice it. So she finds her ways."

Viktor shrugs again. Ezreal keeps pointing at him mouthing "unbelievable" even as he checks his phone and starts for the door.

"I gotta bounce, Camille is here. Hopefully she'll stop complaining about me not being properly outraged this time around."

He leaves, and Jayce is left with Viktor. Who looks good in that shirt.

Jayce opens his mouth and is saved from droning out "you look good in that shirt" by Viktor snapping his fingers in front of his eyes.

"Are you okay?" judging by his tone, it's probably the second time he's asked.

"Yes. Frustrated over that e6," Viktor hums, grimacing. "But all I can do about it is practice."

Viktor looks like he wants to add something, but he sidesteps Jayce and after a second throws a thermos his way before leaving the room without another word.

Jayce, having barely caught the thing, opens it and smiles upon finding warm, honeyed, water inside.

-x-

The first time Viktor sees Jayce when not in the theatre since they start working together, he's taking a walk through a park near his apartment and is trying to avoid thinking about Jayce. He needs a break from his own confusing emotions, some distance. At least to reconcile the highly contradictory ideas of Jayce that he has.

As his luck may have it, it's barely been ten minutes since he's set foot in the park when he sees Jayce sitting on a bench, looking out into the middle distance, with his phone cuddled in his hands and his headphones on.

Viktor looks at him while he considers his options. He could leave and pretend that he never saw him, go back home and let that be it, or approach Jayce and face the consequences. Leaving is tempting but he knows himself and he'd feel guilty afterwards for ignoring Jayce, no matter if he hadn't seen him yet, so he takes a stealing breath and walks his way.

Jayce doesn't notice his presence until Viktor sits by his side, and he blinks at Viktor and tugs his earphones off.

"Hey. You live nearby?" Viktor nods. Jayce hasn't turned the music off and Viktor can hear the part of _Phantom of the Opera_ where Christine sings in e6 through the headphones over and over again. "I do too, kind of."

"Today, too?" Viktor points at Jayce's phone and Jayce pauses the music with a drawn-out sigh, dropping his head against the back of the bench.

"I'm so close. It's even more frustrating now that I know for sure that I can do it, only not just yet," he smiles, bitter. "But I didn't get into this business because I thought it'd be easy."

Jayce straightens then. It doesn't help matters for Viktor that he's handsome, yet he has a feeling it wouldn't have mattered either way. Him being a ridiculously hardworking yet arrogant man would've got Viktor, in the end. He's cursed.

"Why did you?"

"I wanted to be famous and I knew that I had the talent for it," Jayce shrugs. "I was aiming for Hollywood, but ended up in a theatre company performing musicals. Not that I'm complaining, I love it. Now, that is."

"You've given up on Hollywood, then?"

"What can I say," Jayce answers, and he leans close enough for Viktor's heart to skip a beat. "I rather enjoy telling you that those who have seen your face draw back in fear."

Viktor scoffs as Jayce laughs. "You would love to be able to overdramatize everything."

"Of course. Why did you get in the business?"

"My parents were actors, they showed me how it went and I liked it. It's not a great story, but it's the one I have."

"And how did you find our company?"

"You," Viktor blurts out, and almost stands and runs back home when he realizes. Jayce expression hasn't changed, though, so he guesses that in for a penny in for a pound. "I saw you perform as Victor Frankenstein three years before I joined. Itwas good. I liked it, and I looked into the company because of it."

Jayce seems genuinely happy to hear that and Viktor would like his heart to beat at a normal pace please and thank you.

"That was one of my first roles with them. And the hardest, maybe? Victor isn't easy," Jayce snorts and Viktor quirks and eyebrow. "I think. Are you easy?"

Viktor's horrified by how his skin prickles at Jayce's tone, but he hits his arm nonetheless.

"No. You were a good Victor, in any case. Hard to believe, knowing you. But you were."

"Knowing me," Jayce says, leaning farther into Viktor's space, and Viktor huffs. "You'd be a better Victor, I think. But I was already the best actor they had, and Ezreal was better as Henry."

"Camille?" Viktor asks, just to be an asshole, but Jayce doesn't bite.

"You saw her as Adam, too. It fit her like glove," Jayce is still too close for Viktor's comfort. "You think you could play Victor?"

"I could," he answers embarrassingly fast, but he's sure that he can do it for once and Jayce seems more amused than offended by it. "I like the role."

"Isn't he too emotional, too?"

"He is, but I don't see him sending notes around asking for a salary."

Jayce laughs at that, and his breathing hits Viktor's cheek, and Viktor looks at him under the shadows of the trees and for the first time finds comfort in the idea of loving him.

-x-

Ezreal is home nursing his sore throat after a particularly long and frustrating session and Jayce is alone, facing the record player with a frown because he’s never been good at practicing duets alone and he’s yet to get _All I Ask of You_ to the level he desires.

He could try. And he does. And it’s a disaster.

“Do you...need help with that?” he starts and turns, halfway through a verse, to find Viktor standing by the door. He’s too tired to feel mortified, at least. “I can leave if you want me to. Sorry to interrupt.”

Jayce should tell him to leave but he wants help and he also wants to see if Viktor can sing Raoul. So his nodding is half morbid curiosity, half a desperate plea for help that he hopes Viktor can answer. If not, at least he’ll have a good laugh. Nothing to lose.

“Yes, sure. Can you do Raoul?”

Viktor enters the room, looking around as he walks, and hums.

“Probably better than Erik, yes.”

Jayce huffs a laugh because honestly, he’s unbelievable.

“Of course. You do love to walk around in that stupid cape, though.”

Viktor shrugs. “It adds a nice dramatic flair,” he stands by the cd player and fidgets, glancing at Jayce from under his fringe. Jayce blames the odd little jump in his heartbeat on nerves. “How are you going about this with Ezreal? Movie approach? Broadway style? Still figuring it out?”  
  
“We haven’t decided yet but we are kind of going for over the top. Seems to be what works best.”  
  
“Okay. I can do over the top. Whenever you’re ready, I warmed up before.”

Jayce takes a deep breath and nods. He mumbles "fine" between his teeth and approaches the cd player trying to shake off his nervousness. It’s just a rehearsal, one of many, and nothing else.

He starts the music. Viktor takes his hand. And he sings. And Jayce realizes just how awful an idea this was.

Jayce had begrudgingly recognized that Viktor was a good actor and singer but him as Erik is worlds apart from him as Raoul. As Erik he’s a force of nature, brash, unknowable and dangerous. As Raoul he’s tender, soft, he feels close and solid and safe and Jayce almost misses his cue because Viktor has him by the waist and is looking down at him as if he wants him.  
  
He’s afraid of his voice cracking with how overwhelmed he feels but it flows clean. He lets Viktor lead him, grab him by the waist and lift him, tug on him and push him away. And when Viktor steps close and holds his hands, leaning in and kissing him feels like the right thing to do.

Viktor freezes and Jayce panics until Viktor lets go of his hands and circles his waist with his arms sighing into his mouth. Jayce doesn’t really care about the playback anymore, his focus is on Viktor’s warmth and his lips and the way his heart is beating in his throat. His fingers grace Viktor’s hair and Jayce opens his mouth and licks Viktor’s lips until he finds his tongue.  
  
The player beeps and Jayce jumps and steps away from Viktor as a recorded voice tells them that the next song will start in four seconds.

Viktor is staring at him, wide eyed and open mouthed, and Jayce doesn’t know what to tell him or what to do about all the things he should be facing but refuses to.

So he clears his throat and avoids Viktor’s gaze as he turns the cd player off.

“That was...good. Very convincing. It’d be a good tone for the song, I think.”

“A good tone,” Viktor mumbles, and Jayce swallows. “Why...”

“I’m a professional,” he interjects, before Viktor can say anything else that implies that Jayce kissed him because he wanted to, and plasters a smile on his face before turning to look at Viktor. He looks tense, but Jayce can’t read his expression anymore. “Every adaptation has a kiss. It’s mandatory.”

Viktor stares, blinks, and all of a sudden all tension seems to leave his body and he smiles, small and queasy.

“Right. Of course. That makes sense,” Viktor nods. Jayce nods. “Want to go again?”  
  
“No!” even Jayce is offended at how fast he answered but Viktor only raises an eyebrow and shrugs. “It’s okay. I don’t want to get used to your Raoul and have to adapt to Ezreal later.”  
  
That’s...not a lie but not exactly true. He doesn’t want another ride on that emotional rollercoaster is the truth.

“I’m...going to leave, then. Good luck.”

Jayce tries not to stare at Viktor’s retreating form but it doesn’t work. He looks fixedly at his back as he walks away and can’t stop looking until he glances over his shoulder, nods, and closes the door behind him.

-x-

Maybe telling Vi what had happened during rehearsals as she's poking at him with pins in the dressing room isn't the best idea he's ever had, but Viktor feels like he has to tell someone or he'll overthink himself into a nervous breakdown.

Vi doesn't prick him but she has never laughed so much in her life, Viktor thinks. She's doubled over, gasping for air, and it takes her a while to be in enough control to breathe properly and straighten.

"If Jayce ever changes I'll be so heartbroken," she says. "I don't see what the problem is? He snogged you, then said something stupid. But he isn't being weird about it, right?"

Viktor shakes his head. If anything, he feels closer than before. It's a small comfort. Even the more so after Viktor has made peace with his own feelings.

"So what is it, then? Just grab his stupid face and kiss him back. It isn't that hard."

"I don't know if he wants me to do that," Vi snorts. "I'm serious. He could've being following the flow of the scene. Something like that."

"Oh my God," Vi's laughing again, more controlled this time, but she does slap Viktor's shoulder hard enough to make him stumble. "Why don't you ask him about it?"

Viktor blanches. Vi rolls her eyes.

"Fine, don't ask him then," she shrugs and Viktor sighs. He's way out of his element. "I told you he wasn't that bad, though. I knew you'd get on with him."

"Maybe too well, is the problem here."

"Funny assholes are so charming," Vi quips, beaming, and Viktor punches her arm softly. "But like. Honestly? If you aren't sure, just wait it out. Knowing Jayce, he'll break eventually. Knowing you, you'll pour all your feelings into your performances and make them very uncomfortable to watch. Caitlyn will be ecstatic, though."

She grimaces, suddenly, and Viktor frowns.

"What."

"Jayce is going to come crying to me about it. He's so overdramatic. He'll throw himself on a couch and start declaiming and I'll have to listen to him for hours on end. Fuck."

"Sorry?"

She shrugs. "It's his own fault. Now stay still so I don't poke you with a pin."

By the time he gets home, he's only been pinned once and he's the one to blame for jumping upon hearing Jayce enter the room, then exiting again once Vi tells him that she's fitting Viktor.

And Jayce has texted him something.

It's a video. Short. It's of Jayce himself, sitting with his back straight, and singing the part leading to the one on e6. His voice breaks and he spits "fuck" and tries again and there it is. He hits the note for maybe a full second and then his voice breaks again but Viktor has heard it. He got there. He can do it. Now it's only a matter of holding it.

Viktor's smiling so wide it almost hurts.

_Me: congrats_

_Me: though I should tell you that I'm not Vi, just in case_

_Jayce: i knwo_

_Jayce: i wanted you t see_

Viktor feels like screaming.

-x-

Jayce has many problems with _Phantom of the Opera_ , the song, and they not only revolve around the fact that e6 is a hellish note to reach. Some of them are about Viktor.

Specifically about how he looks in full suit, cape strewn around his feet, looking at Jayce with a fire in his eyes that burns him from the inside out. And about how he sounds, mocking and raspy, voice booming as he smirks at Jayce.

If he didn’t know any better, Jayce would think that Viktor was doing this all to spite him. But this is just how he plays Erik. Gloomy but cocky as he reaches out and grabs Jayce from behind, a hand on his hip and the other on his cheek, and Jayce goes with him and struggles to keep his composure because fuck finding Viktor hot, he’s a professional. But it’s so hard when he’s forced to look up and back and they’re harmonizing and Viktor’s leaning in and over and Jayce stutters as he feels himself trying to reach Viktor’s lips.

“What the fuck are you doing,” Ezreal says, and Jayce snaps out of his reverie and disentangles himself from Viktor to step away with an awkward little cough. “Caitlyn, are you seeing this? Oh my god. Is that allowed? Are they gonna start sucking face onstage?”

“It wasn’t bad, it added some nice tension to the scene.”

“No, Ezreal’s right,” Viktor says, behind Jayce and closer than he expected, and Jayce swallows. “This is...it needs to be subtle. We set the wrong tone. Sorry about that.”  
  
Jayce almost starts laughing. It’s a close call. Sorry about that? About what? Sorry Jayce almost grabbed me by the neck and made out with me wildly because he has the hots for me? Sorry Jayce can’t control himself? Sorry I look great in costume? But Caitlyn is staring at him and Jayce stops himself before it’s too late.

“Right. We...were trying something new and it didn’t work. Sorry. Can we go again?”

He endures Caitlyn’s piercing gaze for what feels like minutes and Jayce is one hundred percent sure she can see through him and his excuses. She smiles nonetheless and nods.

“Certainly. Take it from the top and, Jayce? I get the awed amazement but please, can we get a bit of fear there too?”

And Jayce is absolutely positive, because he is at that very moment as afraid as he’s ever been of how stupid Viktor makes him, so he affects a smirk and struts into position as he shoots a “sure” over his shoulder.

-x-

They've been rehearsing for so long that there's a certain soothing cadence to going through the motions. There's still tension between Jayce and him, but they're dealing with it in a way that isn't leading to disaster. He likes to think.

He's happy about how that particular enactment of _Phantom of the Opera_ is going. The mood is right, they're in tune, they've been harmonizing fine, they haven't botched the subtlety of it, and now all that's left if Christine's last part. And Jayce felt confident enough that day to try.

So he does.

Viktor does what he's supposed to, though he suspects that he'll never find it any easier to avoid laughing when he has to bellow at Jayce to sing for him, and Jayce sings. Viktor circles him. Tugs on him. Listens to him with his heart beating faster and faster until the moment comes and Jayce is looking at him, almost pleading, and Viktor grabs his wrists loosely as Jayce breathes and his voice flows clean.

It doesn't break, he holds it until the music fades, and then he stops and grabs onto Viktor's forearms breathing hard and fast, still staring up at him wide eyed and looking as shocked as Viktor feels.

"You did it," Viktor says, overwhelmed, and Jayce throws his arms around his neck and kisses him.

Viktor holds onto Jayce's waist and kisses back with all he's got, trying to tell him everything he can't quite put into words in a way that doesn't need any. He bites at Jayce's lips until he groans, opening his mouth and licking at Viktor's holding him closer, tugging at his hair. Viktor's heart is beating in his ears and he only breaks the kiss to breathe, refusing to step apart or let Jayce go anyway, feeling Jayce's breath on his chin.

Jayce laughs, dropping his forehead on Viktor's shoulder.

"Fuck you're hot when you sing," Viktor blinks down at Jayce's back, watching his own hands on it in quiet amazement.

"Fuck you're hot always? No, scratch that. Your ego doesn't need to get any bigger."

"Too late," Jayce kisses Viktor's neck lightly and Viktor fidgets. "Stay."

Viktor does.

-x-

Something beeps by Jayce's side and he slaps in its general direction and snuggles into Viktor's side in his bed. The thing keeps on beeping. Viktor groans but doesn't move, so Jayce sighs and sits up.

It's probably way too early to be alive. He looks down at Viktor, sleeping by him, and his stomach does a fun sort of flip that at least makes having woken up worth it. As it turns out, what's beeping is Viktor's phone and Jayce answers it out of spite.

"What," he croaks, and laughter explodes on the other end of the line. Laughter that he recognizes as Vi's. Jayce regrets everything he's ever done, from being born to answering that phone, anticipating what's to come.

"Jaycer! What the fuck!" she's still laughing, gasping for air. Viktor stirs and throws an arm over his lap and Jayce's heart clenches. "I didn't know you were so risqué. Like what if I had been his mom?"

"I would have hanged up, which is what I'm going to do now."

"Oh come on, don't be a stranger. I just wanted to ask my dearest Viktorino how he was feeling about premiering tonight but I'm guessing that the answer's pretty damn good."

She snickers and Jayce rolls his eyes. "Aren't you a riot."

"Jayce, in all seriousness," Jayce does snort, then, because when has Vi ever been serious, and she huffs. "Listen to me. I'm happy for you, okay?"

Viktor mumbles something between his teeth then, sitting up, and Jayce looks at him as he blinks blearily at the wall.

"What time is it," he drawls, and Jayce shrugs. Viktor frowns at him. "Is that my phone?"

Vi's cackling away. This could be the most embarrassing moment of Jayce's whole life, and he acts in musicals for a living.

"It's Vi," Viktor hums, leaning against his side, and Jayce holds his weight with a sigh. For all he knows, Viktor has gone right away to sleep again. "He's out."

"I meant what I said," she says, and Jayce smiles despite himself. Sitting in Viktor's bed, with his weight pressed to his side, holding him as he presumably sleeps, talking to his best friend using Viktor's phone. He feels whole. Satisfied with his life in ways unknown to him until then.

"I know."

Viktor snores, and Vi guffaws loudly in his ear as Jayce tries not to laugh himself.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Think of me", one of Phantom of the Opera's songs, by Andrew Lloyd Webber. 
> 
> I like musicals, I like Viktor and Jayce. I threw them all in a blender and this is what happened. A cheesy romcom. Who would've guessed.
> 
> Thanks [Jock_Casual](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jock_Casual/pseuds/Jock_Casual) for making me do this and lending me ideas.
> 
> If you didn't know that there's a Frankenstein musical, there are many but only one I like: Frankenstein a New Musical. It features [Victor Frankenstein singing a power ballad about how much of an asshole he is](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IVe0EBo2nI). 10/10.


End file.
